NEW world-class IVF laboratories in Manchester are being opened by a test-tube baby pioneer.

The labs at St Mary's Hospital will be among a handful used for pioneering embryonic stem cell research. Professor Robert Edwards, who helped create the world's first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, of Oldham, 30 years ago, was opening the labs today ahead of a two-day conference tomorrow and Friday to celebrate the 30th anniversary.

The laboratories were designed by the IVF team at St Mary's to meet the EU conditions for IVF treatment and for producing human embryonic stem cells.

St Mary's will be one of only six IVF centres in Britain funded by Medical Research Council to reach these quality standards. The new clean-room facilities will provide much higher air quality than previously available, which will help to improve conditions for IVF and embryo development for patients. It will also mean that any stem cells made will be free of contamination and potentially suitable for transplantation into patients in the future to cure disease.

A range of sophisticated laboratory equipment has also been incorporated, including new technology such as electronic tracking of embryos using radio frequency ID tags.

The 30 years of IVF conference has been organised by the Association of Clinical Embryologists for leading experts to discuss the history of IVF, the patient perspective of IVF and the future of embryology.

Dr Daniel Brison, co-director of North West Embryonic Stem Cell Centre at St Mary's, said: "2008 is an extremely significant year as it marks the 30th anniversary of the birth of the world's first test-tube baby.

"It was the culmination of years of dedicated work by scientists, embryologists and clinicians to develop methods to assist couples suffering from infertility.

"The pioneering work of Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards and their team led to a whole new branch of medical science - assisted reproduction, which now produces tens of thousands of IVF births around the world each year."